Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The greater lessons in life

I'm sure that you can think of a time when your grandparent told you something that changed you. I can remember lots of great lessons about life from my grandmother and many of them she never spoke. Let me first say that I adore my grandmother. She is the most amazing wife/mother/grandmother that I know. I believe that the reason for success in her marriage is her tremendous respect for my grandfather.

My grandmother has always ironed all of my grandfather's clothes even his handkerchiefs. The funny part is that he is a cotton farmer and works in the field on a tractor. I have never really understood that, but that is just how it has always been. Once I asked her if she ever got tired of always ironing his work clothes. She told me that when she ironed his shirt, she would think of how strong he was. She would think about how blessed she was to have a strong husband that could work and take care of her. She would think of his shoulders and how she liked to lean on him. She would work down the shirt thinking about her blessings as a wife and about how much she adored him. I have never ironed the same since (of course I rarely iron - dry cleaning). I think the point is that she chose not to see this as a chore, but as a way to reflect on him and count her blessings. I have NEVER heard my grandmother say an unkind word about my grandfather. I have NEVER seen her show him disrespect. And I have seen the way that he loves her by the way he looks at her. That is exactly the way a "Godly marriage" should look!

13 comments:

Oh, MonicaI loved this post. Your grandmother learned and taught a lesson I didn't learn until I buried my first husband. Love is not a chore. She sounds like a very wise woman and a real blessing to you.PeaceNeva

Thanks everyone! I feel so blessed to have watched the greatest love story unfold before my eyes. You can't make up stories as good as theirs.

I recently recorded them talking about their life together. I hope to complete my DVD soon and then I will find a way to link it to my blog. They were married so young (eloped) and have raised 6 children and have done it all with faith in God and love for each other. When I read "how to" books about marriage and even all scripture about the subject, I find that they have lived that way.

Monica ----What an awesome post. I love Ma & Pappy and they have just adopted me into their lives and I am so blessed. One note about my Grandmother, my Granddaddy contracted TB when my Mother and her brother and sister were small and that time a person with TB was sent to a sanitarium to get well. However, my Mom (Grandmother) said he would get better faster with those that loved him around him. So by herself she built the little house. A one room effiecency apartment next to their house then created a buzzer system that allowed Grandaddy to buzz the main house when he needed something. She went to work outside of the home, raised her kids, and nursed Grandaddy back to health. Grandaddy was a blacksmith and Mom even became a better welder than he was and kept his business going. I think we are both blessed to come from such good stock. God has truly blessed us!Stachia

I had a pretty tramatic grandparent relationship, but I wanted so say thank you for reminding me to count the blessings where my husband and life are concerned. Sometimes I forget that. And it’s amazing how many warts you see when you look for them.

I had a pretty tramatic grandparent relationship, but I wanted so say thank you for reminding me to count the blessings where my husband and life are concerned. Sometimes I forget that. And it’s amazing how many warts you see when you look for them.

What I believe

God is perfect, man is not. There is no perfection in churches, religions, preachers, elders, grandparents, scholars, authors, friends, leaders, missionaries, Christian schools, church founders, parents, disciples of Jesus, or anyone else that is not Jesus Christ. So in all of my recent obsessive searching for answers I have only come to this conclusion. I believe in God, I believe that he sent his son Jesus to live on this earth, die and be resurrected. I believe that I am saved by grace through faith and expected to live a life that honors God, while remembering that I am not perfect and I will let down myself, others, and my savior. I believe that since the death of Jesus there have been many great people that have lived their lives in the best way that they knew how in order to honor and worship him. I do not believe that their lives are to be a pattern for mine. The only life that is worthy of duplicating is that of Jesus. With that conviction, I do not believe that there is a perfect place to worship in past or present. I do not believe that there is a perfect eldership to worship under. I do not believe that there is a perfect minister in which to hear the word. I do not believe that there is a perfect music service in any church anywhere. I DO believe that God is honored with my conviction to seek him, worship him, and take him to others every chance that I get.

GOOD QUOTES

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing-that's why we recommend it daily. - Zig Ziglar

I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.” - Tony Campolo

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Grace is not license to sin but the power to overcome it. - Kay Arthur

As a believer, understand that whatever season of life you’re in is not by chance; God has EQUIPPED and ANOINTED you for it. - Priscilla Shirer

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. ~Marianne Williamson, A

....It is so easy to not experience connection. Our busy lives pull us away from ourselves, so much so that we even forget how to breathe. We rarely hold still. Our bodies might be sitting with our children, but our minds are racing off in many other directions. When our little ones look us in the eyes, they know we are not there. And while it is not easy, it is vital that we resist this way of life that pulls us away from ourselves. For we teach our children not so much by preaching lessons or dogma to them as by the way we walk and sit and see the world. They will learn to breathe and smile and be compassionate and connected to themselves and to their world through our example.....Denise Roy

We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. ~Frank A. Clark
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“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Maya Angelou